“I’m going to rest for a little while before lunch,” she told him, closing the door behind her.
Flynn stood in the living room, feeling more inadequate than he’d ever felt in his life. Not knowing what else to do, he sat at the kitchen table with his laptop and spent the next hour going back and forth with the builders for Aidan’s property, answering questions and tweaking final details. All the while, a sick feeling churned in the pit of his stomach, like he’d just gone for the bottom step and missed and now he was hanging in mid-air, waiting to fall.
Promptly at noon, Ruby emerged from the bedroom, looking refreshed and calm. “Time to head up to the castle for your farewell lunch.” Both cats trailed her down the hall, giving Flynn condescending looks, as if they knew and judged him for everything that had happened. He closed his laptop and put it away, grabbing his jacket as he followed her out the door.
Ruby was polite, if distant, as they walked to the castle to join her friends for lunch. Soon, they were enveloped in conversation that hid any awkwardness between them. Flynn told them all about the project he’d been working on for Aidan and his upcoming work in Dubai. Theo, in particular, had a lot of questions, as his family and Flynn’s had done business together for generations. Langdon Fine Furnishings and Exeter Hotels went way back.
“Don’t you ever get tired of all the travel?” Megan asked, eyes darting between him and Ruby.
“Not really, no. It keeps things interesting,” he told her.
Ruby stared at her plate like it was a to-do list for the rest of her life.
“I do find it tiresome at times,” Theo chimed in, “splitting my time between here and London. Mostly, though, it’s all gone much more smoothly than I’d anticipated.” He reached over and covered Elle’s hand with his.
Flynn glanced at Ruby. She was stabbing at her salad like it had personally offended her. Her expression betrayed nothing, but she was uncharacteristically quiet, which seemed somehow harder to take than if she’d just started yelling at him.
After lunch had been cleared away, he said his goodbyes to Megan, Jake, Elle, and Theo. He noticed that Ruby lingered in the castle, showing him this and that, so that they ended up walking down to the guest house only a few minutes before his car was scheduled to arrive. Back in her house, she watched quietly as he repacked the few items he’d taken out of his bag. He set it by the door, shooing away the cat that ran over to try to stuff himself inside.
Outside, he heard tires crunching over gravel.
He turned to face Ruby. “I guess this is it, then.”
“I guess so.” She met his gaze for the first time since their argument in the woods, her eyes intense and defiant, daring him to get through this goodbye without making things between them even worse.
“I’ll miss you, more than you’ll probably ever know.” He took her hands, asking silently for one last hug, one last kiss. It was probably more than he deserved, but she gave it to him anyway. With a sigh, she stepped into his embrace, clasping her hands behind his neck.
“I’ll miss you too,” she whispered, her eyes gone suspiciously glossy.
He lowered his head, pressing his lips against hers. She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth, biting down as she turned the kiss from gentle to ferocious in the span of a heartbeat. They groped at each other, tongues tangling, emotions manifesting in the heat between them. He slid a hand into her hair and tugged, loosening the ever-present knot at the back of her head.
A knock at the door drove them apart.
Ruby stepped out of his arms, cheeks flushed, eyes snapping with heat and hurt. She licked her lips, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked out the window at the driver waiting to take him away. “I guess this is goodbye, then.”
He took a deep breath to calm his heart before he went outside. “Goodbye, Ruby.”
Afraid of what he might say—or do—if he lingered, he picked up his duffel bag and briefcase and headed for the door. As he slid into the backseat of the car waiting in the driveway, he ignored the ache in his chest. In the end, this would hurt less than watching their relationship disintegrate across oceans and continents.
He was sure of it.
The car backed up to turn around, and he found himself meeting Ruby’s eyes as she watched him out the kitchen window. And then, he was moving down the driveway, on his way toward DC and Wales and Dubai and wherever life might carry him next.
15
Her list was getting out of control. Ruby drummed her fingers against the keyboard of her laptop. Behind her, late afternoon sun filtered through the window, warming her back. Simon lay on the table beside her laptop, while Oliver had curled himself over her feet. They were glad to have her home and had hardly left her side, especially since Flynn left.
She sucked in a breath, determined not to spend any more time crying over everything that had happened that morning. Yes, she’d cried about it. But now, she was attempting to be productive, because after three weeks in Europe without her laptop, there was alotto catch up on. At this point, she had a list to keep track of all her lists.
And, since there was no time like the present, she pulled up the interface for the castle’s website and began tackling the updates that needed to be made. She added a blog post about Elle and Theo’s wedding with a few of their professional wedding photos, since they were the owners of Rosemont Castle. Megan had sent her some new fall photos of the castle and grounds to add to their online gallery, and the adoptable animals in their Fairy Tails program all needed updates.
The next thing she knew, someone was knocking on her front door. Notsomeone. She knew that knock as well as she knew her own, and a reluctant smile crossed her face as she stood from the table and stretched, feeling a satisfying pop somewhere in the base of her spine. Tomorrow, she needed to get back to her office in the castle, because working at the kitchen table was not the most comfortable thing.
Sure enough, Elle and Megan stood outside the door, each carrying a silver tray from the castle. Ruby’s stomach grumbled at the sight, because, wow yeah, it was past six already. She opened the door, motioning them in. “Miss me already?”
“We thought you might need some company tonight,” Elle said as she set her tray on the table and pulled a bottle of red wine out of the bag that had been slung over her shoulder.
“And we missed you,” Megan added with a grin.
